Revenge of a Chieftess
by Avatar Korra
Summary: Azula has destroyed her honor and her home, her whole world. Now, how far will Zari go to regain these things and get her revenge on the princess? Zuko x OC. 7/5/08-Yep, Zari's a MarySue. But she's African American, so give me some credit for originality!
1. Chapter 1: The Dream

A/N: So this is my first fanfic, y'all, and I realize it is a little different! Different is good, though, right? So anyway, in my epic quest for the perfect OC who is NOT a Mary Sue, I thought, "Hey, there aren't any African people in the Avatarverse (that I know of) yet! What the heck, let's try it!" So I came up with this story. I had to kind of invent my own culture for this girl to be a part of and everything, so bear with me though the corniness here! Please R&R, concrit only cause I've never done this before! Enjoy!

Disclaimer: Obviously I don't own Avatar or I wouldn't be sitting here writing stupid stories about it to satisfy my addiction. However, I DO own Zari, Tana, and all the other characters relating to the Earthen People, and I will be supremely angry with anyone who tries to steal them or any of my other ideas! And trust me, I WILL KNOW! Bwahahahahaha… okay, here's the story.

Revenge of a Chieftess 

Chapter One: The Dream

The ancient runes in the mahogany staff gleamed under the hot savanna sun as Zari fingered them. She couldn't interpret what was written there, only the village storyteller knew the art of reading. It was he who would carve the name of each ruler into the staff after his or her death. The staff had accumulated nearly five hundred years' worth of the tribe's history, beginning with Avatar Kenji and ending with Zari's grandfather.

"Father," Zari addressed the tall, wiry brown skinned man sitting beside her, "Tell me the story of Avatar Kenji." He smiled. Zari had heard the story many times, but storytelling was sacred to their people: the method of remembering history and honoring their ancestors. Chief Akin was happy to relate the story to his daughter once more.

"Do you see that village, Zari?" She looked down from the grassy hill to the bustling village of grass huts below and nodded. "In the Early Times, there was no village. Our leaderless ancestors roamed the land between the Ocean and the great city Ba Sing Se. The bending peoples considered us inferior and drove us away from their homes and towns. We thought that respect and honor would never come to us, until one day a child was born that would change that."

"Avatar Kenji," Zari interrupted. "Yes, Avatar Kenji. When he discovered his identity as the Avatar, he traveled the world and gained much acclaim as he mastered the bending of elements. He spoke on our behalf before the King of the Earth Kingdom. Thanks to him, these grasslands were granted to our people so that we too would have a home. Avatar Kenji returned to us and taught us of the things he had learned. He established the Four Villages and the Seven Clans."

The chief's face fell at the mention of the Four Villages. Under his father's reign, two of the villages had fallen to the Fire Nation, their buildings burned and their people massacred. The same had happened to one of the remaining villages only five years ago, leaving the one village, Mombaka, to face the world alone.

Akin regained his composure and smiled down at his young daughter. "Avatar Kenji established one clan among the Seven to be his own, the clan to rule the others. He ruled with this very staff, and when he died it was passed down to his son, his name carved into the wood. Ever since that time, the leader of the Clan of Kenji has ruled with this staff and had his name recorded on it upon his demise. Someday it will be yours, Zari. All of the people will look to you for help, safety, protection, and guidance, and you must provide it for them. You must maintain all these things in order to maintain your honor as chieftain."

Zari wasn't sure she could handle this responsibility. After all, she was only eight. But she knew equally well that she could never let her father down. He had taught her everything she knew, and Zari trusted him completely. When it was time for her to take up the staff and rule the Earthen People, she felt confident that her father would have prepared her for anything she may have to face.

A/N: Sorry we have to get all the boring historical stuff out of the way before we get to the action! It's for your own good.


	2. Chapter 2: The Present

Chapter Two: The Present

Zari awoke with a start. She was no longer on the hill with her father; it had been five years since she had been there. She was on her sleeping mat in the room she shared with her little sister, Tana, in their grass hut.

Zari closed her eyes and tried to recapture the dream as it slipped away from her mind. She had trusted her father to sufficiently prepare her for her duty as chieftain, but that day had come sooner than anyone had expected. An ill wind bearing plague had swept through her village when she had barely turned twelve. The plague struck down many of her people, young and old, strong and weak. Luckily it had spared her sister and her, but her father was not so lucky.

Her father. He had seemed invincible to Zari, with his strong set features and wisdom that seemed incomprehensible to his young daughter. But it was not so. He sickened and died within a week of the plague's arrival. The disease left Mombaka as quickly as it had come, but it left Zari fatherless and the heir of the Clan of Kenji.

Joyous ceremonies took place in the wake of the suffering. The new chieftess had many rites to perform, so that the spirits would accept her as the heir of Kenji. It seemed to Zari that she had not had a free moment since. The responsibility of The Staff overwhelmed the twelve-year-old, and had continued to do so until today, when she was seventeen and a woman by her tribe's standards.

Zari sat up and looked at the sleeping Tana. Tana was fifteen, but Zari was decades older than she in terms of experience and responsibility. Sometimes she envied Tana's innocent and carefree way of life. Careful not to disturb her sister, she rose and exited the room, picking up her staff as she went. She stole through the hut's common chamber and left the house as her cousins and other family slept in adjoining rooms.

The eastern horizon was turning pink with sunrise when she reached the hill, the same hill she sat on with her father years ago. She had done her best to maintain her honor and bond of trust with her people since his death. The Earthen People were very much like the Bushmen of the Kalahari Desert in our world, save that they didn't speak in that clicking language and they wore more clothing. The family was very important to them and they operated in clans, as has been mentioned. Pleasing the head of each clan was paramount, and Zari was fairly sure her father would be proud of her today.

The rising sun glistened on her hazelnut-colored skin and black braided cornrows, pulled back into a bun. It stung her deep brown eyes and she looked down at the lands around her. The savanna stretched before the solitary mound, and Zari could see ostrich-zebras and elephant-hippos awaken. She saw the wind ripple through the golden grass, but did a double take when she saw something different. Something very out of place, something she had never seen before.


	3. Chapter 3: The Prey

Chapter Three: The Prey

"Look at this, guys! Ever seen one of these?" Aang held up an unusual mouse-like creature by the tail. Sokka buried deeper into his sleeping bag and protested. "It's not time to get up yet, Aang! Put the rodent down and go back to sleep."

"Actually, Sokka, the sun's rising and we need to get started early if we're going to get out of this prairie and into a town today," remarked Katara.

"Whew. Somebody snores loud enough to shake the savanna!" The three turned to look at the source of this voice. Toph climbed out of her earthen tent and smiled. "Alright, who was it? _Ahemm, Sokka_," she laughed quietly. Sokka wasn't sure what to say back to her. If it had been his sister, he would have had a snappy comeback ready, but none of the three original travelers quite knew how to treat their new member. They had just met Toph three days ago, and while she definitely wasn't the weak blind girl many people expected her to be, she was still blind. They all felt they should be nice to her, even when she egged them on with her tough-girl comments.

Soon it was forgotten, though, and everyone gathered around the fire pit to have breakfast. "Mmm, jerky again," said Sokka sarcastically. "Care for some dried seaweed?" offered the vegetarian Aang, but Sokka shook his head. "Well, don't complain then," said Katara. "Jerky and seaweed are all we've got."

Suddenly Toph jumped up. "Can you guys feel that?" she asked. "Something is coming towards us, fast!" Everyone with sight looked around at the prairie surrounding them. "Hey, is it that thing?" exclaimed Aang as he watched a dust cloud approaching them. "Must be," replied Toph. "It feels like someone running, but a really big someone."

Zari could have told Toph what she was feeling. On seeing a giant bison-like creature nearly hidden in the tall grass, she had rushed back to Mombaka and summoned a crew of the warrior-hunters. They all carried sticks similar to Zari's staff with them, but of lesser quality and without carvings. "I've seen something in the savanna," Zari told them. "It's either a threat to our village, or something we can eat." The hunters followed her as she turned and ran from the village to the site of the anomaly.

The warrior-hunters of the Earthen People are acclaimed by the surrounding nations. They run in parties of up to fifty men, but their legs are synchronized and they run in time. The beat of the warrior's gait is the rhythm of the savanna, pulsing and throbbing with the tempo of life. They carry their staffs with them and have developed an extensive martial art using these weapons.

The party of warriors came upon the hulking bison back suddenly. To their surprise, four people were waiting for them. Zari signaled her men not to fight yet. "State your names and your purpose for intruding upon the lands of the Earthen People," she addressed the group with her staff aimed and ready to smash limbs, should the strangers become violent.

Thanks to Toph, Aang and the others had expected company, but they were utterly shocked to see these people with brown skin surrounding them. The people were dressed strangely, too, the men wearing only animal skin pants and some only a loincloth! The girl who spoke to them wore a printed cloth of strange red, white, and brown designs (the cloth was very African, but seeing how they had no idea what Africa was they couldn't have known this) tied at the shoulder and sewed into a shirt that stopped short of her belly button. The shoulder knot left a long open sleeve dangling to her elbow on one arm. She had a nearly knee-length skirt of the same cloth tied at the waist (like a sarong) but thankfully had on shorts underneath!

Aang spoke up. "We're just traveling, and we'll get off your land as soon as you give us a chance, if that's what you want. These are my friends Sokka, Katara, and Toph, and I'm Aang, the Avatar." To his surprise, the brown warriors immediately bowed down at the mention of his identity.

Zari was stunned to be in the presence of her tribe's patriarch's reincarnation. She was ashamed that she had spoken so rudely. "Forgive me, Avatar Aang," she stuttered as she rose to her feet. "I am Zari, chieftess of the Earthen People. It is an honor to be in your presence. If there is anything we can do to…" She was cut off by Sokka. " Do you have anything to eat that is not dried, chewy, or salty?" he asked eagerly. Zari was a bit thrown off by this. "Um, yes, if you would be so inclined to join us in the village, we would be happy to feed you." And so the warriors set off for Mombaka, joined by animals, a blind girl, siblings, and the Avatar.


	4. Chapter 4: Celebration

A/N: I got the idea for the whole stick-fighting thing from the Surma people of Ethiopia, if there's anyone out there who knows anything about that (which I doubt). But if you like the Discovery Channel, there was a documentary about it and I also found a National Geographic article on them! The stick-fighters in my story don't wear all the funky protective padding, though, and my style would be a little more intense with thicker sticks. Just so you know that I didn't invent all this stuff on my own!

Chapter Four: Celebration on the Savanna

The villagers had all awoken by the time the group returned. They crowded around the pale-skinned people and the strange animals. The Earthen People were not unaccustomed to pale outsiders; occasional travelers did pass through the village every once in a while, but this was still a novelty.

Zari spoke up. "People of Mombaka! Today will be a day of feasting and celebration, for honored guests visit us: the reincarnation of Avatar Kenji and his friends!" The crowd immediately went wild. "Uh, I'm sorry," Aang said sheepishly, not knowing what was expected of him. "But I really don't know any Avatar Kenji. I don't know any of my past lives."

The villagers didn't seem put off by this. "That's fine, Avatar Aang," Zari assured him. "It is cause enough for celebration that you are visiting our village." Although she was unfamiliar with the spiritual technicalities of the Avatar, she hadn't expected him to remember, anyway.

Meanwhile, woven mats were being set out in a border around the town's square and exotic foods placed upon them. The villagers began to sit down behind each of the mats, leaving room at the "head" of the square for Zari, her family, and the guests of honor. Sokka began to dig in. "Do you even know what that is you're eating?" whispered Katara to her ravenous brother. "Sure I do. It's some kind of meat-food-something-or-other," he replied with his mouth full. Katara rolled her eyes.

"Hey, it's not time to eat yet," a tan-skinned girl of about fifteen addressed Sokka as she sat down next to him. She laughed as he turned red. "Don't worry about it. You'll get your chance after the dueling has stopped for lunch. I'm Princess Tana, Zari's sister," she said with a smile. "Uh, I'm Sokka," he replied and looked down, embarrassed, at his half-empty plate.

"Dueling, huh? So what kind of earthbending are we talking here?" asked Toph, who had overheard the whole thing. "Oh, we're not benders!" Tana answered, surprised. "Don't be fooled by our name," Zari interrupted. "The bending peoples refer to us as 'Earthen' because of our earth-colored skin," she explained. "The name stuck," added Tana.

"The dueling we do isn't bending. It's stick-fighting, an art we have practiced since before our stories can remember," Zari clarified. Seeing the blank looks on the four guests' faces, she went on. "On days of celebration, we have stick-fighting competitions to establish the village champion, a title of great honor. The fighting takes the form of a tournament, one duel after the other until the winner is established and must duel the existing champion." "Zari is the champion right now," Tana bragged for her sister, "but we'll see about that before I'm finished today!" she joked.

Zari hid a smile. Becoming the best warrior in the village was far more work than she cared to admit. She had begun training at age six and hadn't stopped since. Zari had paid her price for the honor of champion, though, in the form of excruciatingly long hours of hard training, bruises, sprains, soreness, and even a few shattered ribs. She had taken up training Tana after her father's death, and the younger girl was now ranked about fourth in the village.

Everyone stopped talking as the first two combatants came out. They made a show of intimidating each other before they actually began the fighting. For the newcomers, the whole experience had an exhilarating aura that grew stronger as the spectators began chanting to the rhythm of drums. They watched, fascinated.

"Your past life, Kenji, was supposedly the greatest stick-fighter ever to compete in our tribe," Zari remarked to Aang as she eyed his own staff. He looked at it, too. "Oh, I just use this for my airbending," he replied as he watched the twirling and beating of the warriors' sticks before him. "It folds out into a glider; I don't know if it could handle any action like that."

The dueling went on for the rest of the day, interrupted only by a midday feast and a few breaks for the warriors. Tana fought towards the end and progressed to the third rank in the village, but her defeater could not stand up to Zari's skill with the staff. Zari fought with her own staff, valuable symbol of authority though it was. It had stood up to countless duels before now, and she wasn't afraid of any damage coming to it.

At sunset, another feast of foreign foods was served. Afterwards, a huge bonfire was kindled in the center of the square and many more drums and strange instruments were brought out. The festival took on an ethereal feeling as dancers whirled around the conflagration. It was as if they had all gotten drunk off of the strong rhythm. The intoxication spread to the visitors, and before they knew it, Aang and Katara were dancing around the flames, Toph was reveling in the intense pulse she felt in her feet and the hypnotic music, and Sokka (ever attracted to princesses) was dancing with Tana. He noticed that, although she watched the festivities and chanted along, Zari hadn't moved from her earlier position behind the mats.

"Isn't your sister going to join everybody?" he asked his partner. "Zari? No, she's a boring old party pooper," Tana replied jokingly. "Seriously, is she okay?" Sokka insisted. "Yeah, she's always like this, all serious about everything," Tana reassured him. "She has to be, you know; she's been in charge of the village since she was twelve. When we were kids, she was just like you and me, maybe a little more reserved than most of us, but still always up for dancing, games, whatever. Ever since she's become chief, though, duty and honor come first. Don't worry about her. She likes it that way."

Zari sat alone and watched her people in their wild dance. Tana was wrong, she didn't like it that way, but she also didn't want to get too involved in frivolous activities when there was so much work to be done. Still, she couldn't help noticing how all the young men steered away from her, instead choosing the other girls to dance with. She could have danced by herself, that was quite common, but she didn't feel like it. Zari wasn't one to worry about superfluous things like romance, she had too much else to attend to, but it stung a little to be so ignored. She was considered one of the most beautiful women in the tribe, but so unattainable due to her stoic attitude towards anything and everything.

Zari pushed all those thoughts out of her mind. She instead had to think about the cleanup effort following this celebration, replacing the food they had splurged out of their stores, finding lodging for the Avatar, and so on until she was lost in her thoughts once again.

The wild celebration wound down over the night; few people recalled the ending as they stumbled back into their huts and collapsed into slumber. Aang, Sokka, Katara, and Toph awoke the next morning in two of the guestrooms of the Clan of Kenji's large hut, not knowing how they had arrived there.

"Good morning," Zari greeted them with breakfast as they drowsily staggered out of their rooms. She didn't share in the sluggishness; she had awoken energized two hours earlier to organize cleanup of last night's festivities. "Good morning," the gang replied one by one.

"That was some party," remarked Sokka as he stuffed his face full of meat-food- something-or-other. "Yeah. We never had any of that going on at my parents house," giggled Toph, excited after her first taste of the world outside her over-protective parents' home. "Thank you so much for your hospitality," said Katara, remembering her manners. "This was a wonderful stay, but…" "We have to leave," interrupted Aang. They had learned early on in their journey how dangerous it was to take extended vacations in the places they visited.

"I understand," replied Zari. "We can provide you with some supplies for your journey, and your bison is behind the hut," she added.

The gang wrapped up breakfast and said their goodbyes from Appa's back as they prepared to take off. The villagers clustered around and waved, amazed as the bison flew away into the clouds.

It was on with life now for the young chieftess. The day resumed with her usual duties and ended in a starry savanna night sky, free from the unnatural lights of large towns.

Zari had thought the unexpected was over, at least for a few more months. As a child she would have enjoyed the occasional break from the ordinary, but as the head of a village there were few things she dreaded more. At least the Avatar and his friends had been worth the trouble, grateful guests and nice to talk to. Little did she know of the evil trailing behind her new friends.


	5. Chapter 5: The Predators

A/N: This is where all the fighting and action and everything kicks in. Thanks for reading so far into it, I know it's kind of boring at some places! Just try reading The Scarlet Letter and you'll appreciate this SO much more. That book is so dull it almost ruins my penname. Anybody else hate summer reading?

Chapter Five: The Predators

The next morning proceeded as usual, and even the midday meal and early afternoon did, too. But with the sun's downward journey, a cloud of dust emerged on the western horizon over the dry savanna.

The villagers gathered at the western edge of Mombaka. "Stampede?" many of them wondered aloud. Zari squinted at the approaching cloud. "A stampede would be more widespread. Small animals would come running before it," she observed. But try as they might, no one could come up with any other ideas about it. Meanwhile it grew closer. "I say we prepare to fight it. It may bypass the village entirely, but we can't be sure," she said to her people.

The villagers carried out her orders. Those who were unable to fight hid in the grass huts, and the warriors grasped their staffs as they hid on roofs, in alleyways, and in the darkened houses. Zari hid with Tana behind a small hut near the front of the village. Another thought had crossed her mind as she remembered the three destroyed villages. What if the Fire Nation was attacking the Earthen People yet again?

Her question was answered as the source of the dust became visible. A large metal machine approached the village and entered the main street before stopping. The side opened, and three girls riding giant reptiles exited: one that was freakishly pale, one with a long ponytail and huge eyes, and one with freakishly long nails wearing red and black armor that Zari recognized as Fire Nation.

"Only three? They can't seriously mean to attack us with three people," whispered Tana. Zari motioned for her to be silent as the armored girl yelled out. "Avatar! I know you're here! You can't hide forever, coward!" This was Zari's cue. She readied her staff and stepped out of the shadows. "There's no Avatar here," she spoke firmly to the girl. "But you are here, without permission. Why have you come to my village?"

The girl laughed (and I'm calling her by her name from here on, because if you haven't figured out yet that this is Azula then you are too stupid to be reading my story). "Well. I see we've come to the home of the Mud People," she said as Zari's blood began to boil. "I know for a fact the Avatar is here. The trail of that filthy bison's fur leads straight to your village. You either fork him over right now or I burn your sad excuses for housing to the ground." Zari had heard enough. "You don't give orders to me," she growled as she signaled her warriors to attack.

They rushed out of their hiding places with a fierce battle cry. Many of them had laughed at the thought that all of the village's fighters were necessary to defeat these three people, not to mention girls. But they ate those remarks when they saw their comrades limbs chopped off by flying blades, heard the screams of the people trapped in burning grass huts, and felt their own flesh burning and their muscles rendered inept as Tai Li expertly hit pressure points. Their sticks were of little use against such enemies.

Zari refused to give up. She had never been in battle like this before, and it was shameful that her people could not stand up to merely three intruders. She saw how it easy it must have been for the Fire Nation to destroy the other villages. This was the last stand of the Earthen People; they had to win this in order to survive.

Nearly half of the grass huts in the village were aflame now. Zari was locked in combat with Azula, but all she had accomplished with her staff was giving the evil princess a few bumps and bruises. Zari had dodged the fire attacks and spun them away with her stick, but meanwhile the huts around her were catching fire. "Burning like matches," remarked Azula. "Had enough yet, dirt-queen?"

Zari would never give up, but she was beginning to see that her staff and her warriors would never defeat the girls, either. "Look," she said to Azula between blows. "The Avatar was here, but he's gone now. Him and his friends. If you don't believe me, follow the bison's trail a little further and you will see that it leaves Mombaka." "She's right, Azula," May shouted from farther away. "The trail leaves the village."

"Does it? Well, my mistake," replied Azula, still fighting. "But I hate to leave such an exhilarating fight unfinished. May, if you would be so kind…" May shot a weapon with a rope attached to it out of her robes. It circled Zari and left her arms and legs bound together. She lost her balance and fell before Azula's gloating form.

The princess smiled crookedly as she picked up Zari's staff from where it had fallen. "Don't touch that!" Zari exclaimed. "And what are you going to do about it?" asked Azula coolly as she continued to look over the precious relic. "I've heard of this staff. The staff of Avatar Kenji. Very important to your people, isn't it? Very important to you, although I bet you can't even read it." Azula laughed cruelly and held the staff up in front of Zari. "There can be no doubt as to the identity of the victor of this battle. Your people will surely remember my name for this. Princess Azula, daughter of Fire Lord Ozai! Remember me also as the one who spared you when I could have easily wiped you off the face of the Earth!" she exclaimed as the staff in her hand burst into blue flames before falling to the ground, a pile of ashes.

"I am finished here." The princess and her friends entered their tank as it tore away across the savanna, leaving behind a trail of broken grass and a village of broken hearts.

A/N: Haha! Betcha didn't know Azula was a racist! How do you like the story so far? Stupid? Dull? Boring? The best thing you've read in your life?  R&R please!


	6. Chapter 6: The Alliance

Chapter Six: The Alliance

Zari stared at the remains of her staff as Tana and the others rushed over to untie her. She had never been more speechless or more horrified before in her life. Much more than the staff was destroyed. Her family history, her authority, her pride, and her honor were also ripped away from her.

Tana tried to comfort her sister. "It doesn't matter, Zari. It's just… a stupid piece of wood. That's all it is." Zari rose to her feet. "No. You don't understand. This girl has beaten us. We are beaten!" her voice rose as she also addressed the villagers surrounding her. "We are all dishonored for such shameful defeat! I am dishonored for allowing this to happen to us!" "Zari, it's not your fault," Tana interrupted her.

Zari ignored her sister. Her father Akin's words echoed in her head. _"The people will look to you for help, safety, protection, and guidance, and you must provide it for them. You must maintain all these things in order to maintain your honor as chieftain." _"Silence!" Zari ordered her sister. "I am the protector of this village and any harm that comes to it or its people is my fault, my responsibility." She took a deep breath and spoke quieter. "There is only one way to avenge this. I will follow that girl and make her pay for what she has done to us. Then I will have regained my honor and will be fit to regain my rule," Zari said solemnly. It was as if her father spoke to her, telling her what she must do.

"But we don't need to be avenged, Zari! We need to rebuild our homes and spirits. We need you to stay. We don't need any more blood," Tana reasoned desperately with her sister. Zari looked her directly in the tear-filled eye. "Blood for blood," she said simply, then turned and left Mombaka. That was what Chief Akin would have wanted for his daughter, not out of cruelty, but out of custom.

Zari thoughts were enraged in a whirlwind of hate as she left her home. She knew she wasn't thinking clearly. She left with no food, no water, and no weapon. It seemed to her at the time that all she needed were her two hands to choke the life out of the demon princess.

As she marched across the darkening savanna, she realized she needed much more. Coming up to an ostrich-zebra, she mounted bareback as was the custom of her people and rode it across the grassland despite its protests.

Ostrich-zebras are cousins of the ostrich-horse. They are almost exactly the same except they have stripes on their backs like a zebra (duh). Ostrich-zebras are native only to the lands of the Earthen People and are coveted by outsiders for their speed, superior to that of the ostrich-horse. Members of the Earth Kingdom have tried many times to steal these animals, and for that reason the Earthen People are not quite as friendly with the benders as they should be.

Zari rode on through the night, as she was in no mood to stop. She was determined to catch the girls as soon as possible. She followed a double trail, one of bison hair and one of tank tracks. But with the rising of the sun, fatigue set in on her and her zebra. They collapsed by the river that is the border of the savanna and soon fell asleep. Although something she considered shameful while she was awake, tears unconsciously fell from Zari's sleeping eyes.

The next morning brought no comfort to Zari as she and her zebra paced along the trail. Judging from the speed of the machine at the time that she met it, it was beginning to look like she would never catch up. This task was looking impossible. But Azula was chasing the Avatar, wasn't she? If Zari could perhaps meet up with them, Azula would come straight to her. It wasn't really using her friends, she reasoned; it was just taking advantage of the situation.

The trail passed mountains and forests as it continued on into the distance. This was the first time Zari had left the savanna, and the scenery amazed her even in her depressed state. Another part of the scenery soon came to her attention: she was now following a _triple_ trail. Zari dismounted her zebra and studied the ground. The new trail was comprised of footprints a lot like her own ostrich-zebra's. It must be another ostrich-zebra, or some similar creature, she thought. It was fresher than the trails of hair and tank tracks, and it followed them faithfully across the landscape.

Zari puzzled over this as she rode. Was someone besides herself hunting the Azula? Or were they hunting the Avatar? One thing was certain, she was not alone and she intended to catch up to this competition tonight. She would bring down Azula single-handedly; no one must get in her way.

She found the source of the third trail at dusk. A fire was burning on the hill before her, and she quickly rode over to meet her fellow hunter. As she approached, a man's figure stood up and took up a fighting stance against her. Zari dismounted.

"I'm not going to fight you; I'm unarmed," she said cautiously. "Who are you then?" the boy asked her. She studied him carefully. He looked to be her age, and a massive scar covered his left eye. The scar was repulsive to her, but then she remembered he must have been thinking the same thing about her skin.

He was. Zuko had heard of the dark skinned Earthen People, but he never thought he would actually meet one. Then again, he probably looked just as strange to her as she did to him. Sometimes he became very self-conscious about his scar, although he hid it well. But what was she doing out here so far away from her home? And when was she going to answer his question?

"My name is Zari," the girl finally answered. Zari didn't mention her rank. As far as she was concerned, her dishonor had removed her from her tribe and Tana was the chieftain of the Earthen People in her absence. "And I am following this trail to right a great wrong that was done to me. I hope for your sake that you are not planning to get in my way."

Zuko wasn't sure what she meant. Was she actually implying that she was a threat to him? "Well, I won't get in your way if you won't get in mine. You're not speaking about the Avatar, are you?" he asked. Ah, so he was chasing the Avatar, Zari thought. "No, I'm following the large machine that is following the Avatar," she replied. This was getting way too confusing.

"Good. Now that that's settled you can go away," the boy said, sitting back down at his fire. What a rude thing to say to the former chieftess of the Earthen People! Zari lost her composure. "Who are you, anyway, that you think you can talk to me like that?" she demanded, enraged. "Well, who are YOU? Some tribal girl outside her lands stalking my sister, and you think you can barge in on my camp and get involved in things that are none of your business!" he yelled back at her.

Zari was infuriated. "Your sister? Princess Azula? This most certainly IS my business! Azula has destroyed my home and my honor. Anything tied to her is tied to me," she told him. At the mention of this, the boy sighed. He had said too much. "My sister has destroyed a lot of things besides your home. There are probably dozens of people that want revenge, and none of them are going to get it. Especially not alone and unarmed. Just give up," he advised her. "Well then, maybe you should give up chasing the Avatar. You're never going to catch him," she retorted. Zuko looked down. He had heard this many times.

"I need the Avatar to restore my honor! I don't care what it takes," he said. "Well, then you understand my problem perfectly," Zari replied. "I sense that you don't have a good relationship with your sister," she added. "Ha! Azula's a demon," he answered, confirming her hunch. "And you're both competing for the Avatar?" she prodded further. "Yes, except she doesn't need him like I do. I can't return to my home without him! On top of that, she's trying to capture my uncle and me, too!" he spouted off, forgetting that he hated telling people about himself. He worried that he had said too much.

He _had_ said a little too much. Zari smiled; she had just struck gold. Azula was also after her brother? That meant that, if Zari played her cards right, Azula would come right to her. "Well, it looks like we have the same problem then," she said carefully. This guy looked like a crazy-bomb ready to go off at any moment. "I'll tell you what. You're never going to get through the Avatar's friends single-handedly. I know, I met them. I'll be glad to help you, if…" she went in for the kill, " we can travel together. I've never been outside my homeland, and I don't really know what I'm doing," she half-lied. True, there were some things she didn't understand, like currency, but she could manage well enough by herself. She just needed the prince to be her bait for Azula. Zari hated lying, she would rather accomplish things honestly or not at all, but she had to do what she had to do.

As for Zuko, he didn't want help. "I'm capturing the Avatar on my own to restore MY honor," he repeated for the zillionth time. Zari rolled her eyes. "Fine. You can have the Avatar to yourself. I'll take on the Water Tribe siblings and the Earthbender girl," she lied. She wasn't really going to hurt her friends; she suspected her opportunity for revenge would come before she had to, and then she would return home without fulfilling this deal.

"Earthbender girl?" Zuko asked, shocked. "Yes, Toph," Zari began to explain, and it looked like the two would be traveling together after all.

A/N: Do you realize how hard it is to keep Zuko in character? In the show he probably would have blasted Zari away before he would talk to her, but let's pretend he's got a heart deep down! I really think he does, actually, otherwise he wouldn't have been such a sweet little kid! Did anybody watch "Zuko Alone", by the way? That's what I'm talking about. (I recorded it; it's the best episode ever!)


	7. Chapter 7: Reunion

A/N: This may not make sense to you if you haven't seen "The Chase" yet. I don't feel like explaining the whole plot in detail, so just go look up a summary on or something! Basically Azula & Co. follow Aang with this machine so he can't sleep, and it ends with this ghost-town-western-style showdown between Zuko, Aang, and Azula. Iroh gets blasted in the chest and we don't know if he's dead or not. Sorry guys! I love ginseng tea as much as the next person! Oh, and Katara is really funny in this episode. SHE IS COMPLETELY CALM!

Chapter Seven: Reunion

After a few days of tracking, Zari and Zuko began to understand each other. Each was secretive about their past, and knew only what they could glean from what little conversation they had. Zari knew that Zuko had recently left his uncle and was a fugitive, though she wasn't sure why. Zuko knew Zari must have been someone important in her tribe and that Azula had really wronged her. They learned to respect each other's limits and a strange sort of friendship emerged. Really it was more of a companionship between two fiercely independent and outcast people who hated to admit they needed help in the world.

Once again, Zari disliked using someone innocent for personal gain, especially since she saw how much they had in common. But her honor was at stake, and she selfishly continued with her plan. Zuko was irritated to have company at first, but he soon saw the benefits of having someone around who knew nature so well (not to mention someone who could cook). Growing up in a palace hadn't made him the best of back-to-nature fugitives.

Three days after their meeting, the trail stopped at nothing other than Azula's tank, empty and still. After searching around, they discovered that the girls had left the tank on their lizard mounts, two going one way and one going another. To Zuko's interest, the trail of bison hair also diverged.

"What do we do now?" Zari wondered aloud. Which way had Azula gone? Zari certainly disliked May and Tai Li, but they weren't the ones she was after. "Let's split up," Zuko was first to suggest. Zari agreed. He started off through the woods after the trail with one lizard, and Zari took off after the trail with two.

After half an hour of cantering along on her ostrich-zebra, Zari came to a river. On the other side were none other than Sokka and Katara! She swam the river and came up to her surprised friends. "Zari! What are you doing here?" Katara exclaimed. "And do you mind helping us out a little?" asked Sokka in the understatement of the year, as he lay limp on the ground (due to Tai Li's extensive knowledge of pressure points) and as Katara stood pinned to a tree (due to May's expertise of hidden weaponry).

Zari helped them and told them what had happened after they left Mombaka, trying her best to calm her fury and play it down so they wouldn't feel guilty for bringing Azula along behind them. She told them of her plan to use Prince Zuko to lure Azula into her trap. She didn't mention the fact that he had also become her friend. She also explained her deal with him, but that she wasn't really going to hurt them.

Sokka and Katara in turn explained to her how the machine had been pursuing them nonstop, allowing them not a moment's sleep. Toph was angry and had run away, and Aang had gone off by himself to throw Azula off.

"We're looking for Toph right now," said Katara sadly. It was mostly her fault the earthbender was gone; Katara had ticked her off pretty bad. "Wait!" exclaimed Zari. "You mean to say that Aang went off by himself and now Azula AND Zuko are following him?" she asked. "Uh-oh, you're right!" Katara replied. Sokka jumped up. "Come on guys, we have to help him!"

The three ended up riding Appa together with Zari's ostrich-zebra running below. There wasn't much time for them to catch up to Aang. A few bright blue fire-blasts in an abandoned town up ahead quickly let them know where he was. They descended and immediately started fighting against the evil princess.

This wasn't the first time Aang had fought on the same side as Zuko, although he hadn't known who he was at the time. The opposing sides were the perfect illustration of "the enemy of my enemy is my friend" as they all fought together against Azula. Iroh and Toph, who had met over tea, joined the battle.

Zari picked up a metal rod from the wreckage of the old houses and, imitating the method of stick-fighting with it, tried her best to get a clear shot at Azula, but someone was always there in her way. The girl had certainly made some powerful enemies.

Finally they cornered her. As she pretended to surrender, she shot a blast of blue fire at Uncle Iroh, knocking him to the ground. Everyone else attacked her simultaneously with each of the four elements: Katara-Water, Toph-Earth, Zuko-Fire, and Aang-Air. (In the show Sokka disappears off the screen when this happens. Haha! They thought I wouldn't notice!) Azula vanished in the smoke and everyone's attention went towards Zuko and Iroh.

Zari glanced regretfully in the direction Azula had run, but for the first time she put thoughts of her honor and returning home out of her mind and turned towards her friend in his moment of agony. He was more distraught than Zari had ever imagined he could be as he sat by his uncle and screamed at everyone to leave.

Aang, Katara, Sokka, and Toph did exactly that, although Katara had offered to use her waterbending to heal the old man. Zari stood where she was, though, several feet away from the scene.

She understood Zuko's desire to be alone. She had felt the same way when her father died; all she had wanted to do was hide alone in her room away from the mourners, her family, and the pain.

But this was different; the old man could still be helped and she thought it was foolish of Zuko to shut out Katara when she was willing and able to help. Isolating himself from the pain and the world like Zari had done wasn't going to do Iroh any good. Unfortunately, as Zari had discovered, pain is part of human life and is not something you can escape; it is something that only dulls over time.

A/N: Okay, all you people who don't think Zuko should ever fall in love? You're not going to like the rest of my story. Because Zuko is a seventeen-year old boy and has all the same normal needs and desires as his peers! Okay? Or do I have to go into the birds and the bees here? Unless you think he's gay, (which is entirely possible since he has spent the past few years on a ship completely devoid of the opposite sex), in which case he would STILL want to fall in love with _somebody_. And I refuse to go farther than that!


End file.
